Brits face paying up to £100m a year extra on energy bills 'due to meters wrongly installed BACKWARDS at offshore wind farms'

Published: 12:59, 3 August 2026 | Updated: 13:01, 3 August 2026 Britons face paying up to £100 million more in energy bills every year because of hundreds of faulty meters on offshore wind farms. More than 400 meters are running backwards falsely reporting that they are consuming energy and not producing it. The problem is known to the National Energy System Operator (NESO) which is responsible for managing the country's energy grid and funded by energy bills. A document from NESO reveals there are 800 meters across Britain including 400 on land which are wrongly reporting their energy output.  The document called 'Standardisation of Power Flow Metering Polarity' dated this January, presents a worst-case scenario when the inaccurate meters could cost homeowners a further £100 million a year in energy bills.  Page 26 of the 39-page dossier poses a 10 GW (gigawatt) error which causes NESO to believe reserves are required for approximately 200 hours across a year.  'With the average price for system response and reserve being £50/MWh (megawatt-hour), the repeating annual cost would be £100m,' the document concludes.  When approached about their own document, a spokesman for Neso said the £100 million figure 'should not be presented as actual consumer costs.' Meters on wind turbines could leave Britons facing £100 million more in energy bills a year The spokesman added the faulty meters are not a security issue, stressing the energy system is 'operated safely and securely.' 'Neso has implemented interim measures to minimise the impact and is working with industry through the established code process on an enduring solution,' the spokesman added. When there is an error in the recorded energy output it is referred to as a meter polarity fault.  First reported by The Times, the cost of fixing both the offshore sites and the land sites with the meters is estimated to be at most £44.1 million. Britain has 45 offshore wind farms in the North and Irish Seas, which are part of the drive to produce greener energy.  A spokesman for Ofgem which regulates NESO said the organisation 'has tools to manage issues related to meter polarity but these need to be improved given the changes in the energy system. 'Consumers rightly expect the energy system to run efficiently and keep costs down,' the spokesman added. 'For this reason, Ofgem is working with industry to modify its rules to implement a more enduring solution.'